The Deception for Time
by Ulimo
Summary: After a slip-up by Danny, Vlad, Skulker, and Danny's new tudor try to find out something. Does Danny know Clockwork?


**Disclaimer: If Danny Phantom belonged to me, there would be more then three seasons.**

**AN: Hey, wow it's been a long time. SORRY! I've just gotten in such a funk. **

**And I'm sorry that I haven't updated There Goes That Secret lately, Originally, I wasn't going to include Valerie in learning the secret, and so now, I'm not really sure where to go with it, at the moment.**

**I'LL LEAVE THE SPECULATION AS TO WHY DANNY JOINED VLAD UP TO YOU. THE FOCUS OF THIS SOTRY IS NOT HOW HE GOT THERE, BUT WHAT HAPPENED WHILE THERE. That, and I didn't want to think up a reason.**

**Random Oneshot that popped into my head as I was playing Mahjong.**

**The main idea-ish thing is similar to the fic Clock's day by Preemtive Karma. Basically, Clockwork is some major ghost.**

***DF/P***

"I have always said that you would join me by choice, Little Badger." Vlad said smugly for the fiftieth time today.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I muttered while rolling my eyes. _I agreed to join him haven't I, he didn't have to rub it in._

We were in his secret lab waiting for Skulker to arrive along with the tudor that Vlad hired. He decided that if I were to be his evil apprentice or whatever he called it, I need to be well educated. But for some annoying unknown reason, something always seems to come up whenever I ask of the identity of my future tudor. _Man, I hope it isn't someone who hates my guts. Although, that seems to be 90 percent of the ghost zone._

"I knew all along." He smirked gleefully to himself. He has been in this mood since I arrived three days ago. Sure it was irritating, but I'll just have to deal with it. _I chose to come here after all._ But I couldn't help myself when the next words came out of my mouth.

"Well then," I replied in a snarky tone. "either you are psychic or the Ghost of Time told you."

"Don't be silly, dear boy," Vlad scoffed. "the Time Ghost doesn't exist."

"He does too!" came a voice from behind us. We whipped around to see none other then Skulker, Ghost Zone's worst hunter. Along side him was the very ghost who I ostracized from the ghostly community, The Ghost Writer. _Oh joy!_

"You can't be serious!" Vlad sneered in disgust as the metallic ghost stormed over.

I glance over to see a bored Ghost Writer, as if he had heard this argument one too many times. _Might as well try and patch things up with the ghost, or I might not survive into next week._

I slid next to him and ask, "This happen often?"

"More then you know." He replied while rolling his eyes as he examined his fingernails.

"BUT THERE'S NO PROOF!" Vlad's voice broke in.

"YOU DON'T NEED PROOF IN ORDER TO BELIEVE!" retorted Skulker.

Ignoring the escalating quarrel, I continued to speak.

"I didn't know that Skulker was so…" I started, not sure how to continue as we watched the two argue back and forth, voices continuing to raise.

"Religious?" the novelist finished for me. "Yes, and he is not the only one too. Over half of the Ghost Zone believes that an all powerful Ghost of Time watches over not only the Ghost Zone, but but the real world as well. Clockwork, they call him."

"IT'S HIGHLY ILLOGICAL!" Vlad yelled. "THERE'S NO WAY SUCH A BEING EXIST!"

"DON'T SAY SUCH A THING!" Skulker all but gasped. "The great Clockwork is always listening!"

"Oh please," Vlad said before I drowned them out.

"And do you…?" I started to ask the writer. I wasn't sure if this sort of question was offensive or not. Hence the dire need of tutoring for all-things Human and Ghost.

He raised an eyebrow at me and said, "I have seen neither proof he exist nor proof he doesn't exist."

I nodded at his diplomatic response and went back to watching the two.

I knew Clockwork liked his privacy. He have always told me to not let anyone know I knew him. I just assumed that he didn't want to be bugged about the future. Not that the ghost thought of him as some sort of deity. And if anyone knew I knew him, I'd probably be hounded 24/7.

Skulker's voice broke me out of my thoughts.

"– and I was going to present the Whelp's pelt as an offering."

"He wouldn't like that." left my mouth before my brain could catch up. I could barely stop myself from slapping my forehead.

"You know the Time Ghost?" Skulker asked in disbelief.

"What?" I nearly stuttered. "What I meant was that, uh, you have been trying for years to get my pelt. If he really wanted it, he wouldn't have sav… er I mean you would have gotten it by now."

The silence was suffocating as the two ghost and one half ghost stared at me in bewildered suspicion.

"Right," I said, clearing my throat, I turned to the novelist. "well, don't we need to go over my classes?"

Without a backwards glance at the other two, I grabbed ahold of the Ghost Writer's wrist and pulled him up to the study. _That was close. Too close. I need to watch myself from now on._

***VM/P***

We were silent after Daniel and the Ghost Writer left to the study. We were both in deep thought. Finally, Skulker spoke up.

"You think…?" Skulker started to ask me before trailing off. "Is it possible…?"

"I cannot say." I replied. _Is it possible that Daniel of all people could know this Clockwork fellow. And if he does, could he know for certain if he is truly that powerful. To control everyone's fate? The only one who could answer that is Daniel, and he isn't forthcoming with the information. Oh, Fudge Buckets, what do I do now?_

As I started pacing, I began formulating multiple plans. _Perhaps I could build a memory scanner… no, that could never work, the team, I have researching the dynamics of such a device, has yet to make any progress during the entire three years I gave them! Hmm, I should fire them later on… Now, what about a truth serum? Sugar Cookies! That won't work either, the team for that has made even less progress then the memory scanner group, They'll have to go too. No, I'll not only have to fire all of them, I'll need to utterly crush them to the point where none of them could even show their faces in Africa much less America! Yes… that'll do. Now, where was I? Oh, right, what to do about the possibility of Daniel knowing this Clockwork._

As I spun on my heel, I noticed some books on a shelf, or more specifically, a book which may or may not hold valuable information. I strode over to the glowing tome and with a swish of my cape I pulled it out.

**Legends and Lore of the Ghost Zone**

**by: The Ghost Writer**

I barely held back my snort. Of all the authors to write this book, it had to be the one to tudor my Daniel. Ignoring the "Uh, boss?" from Skulker, I flipped through the pages till I spotted a wizened, purple specter. _This has to be him. Although, he doesn't seem to be all powerful._

Shaking myself from my thoughts, I read the small, somewhat lacking, paragraph.

**Not much is known about the revered Master of Time. **

**What is know is mere rumors and speculations.**

**This mighty ghost is said to have taken on the form of**

**age and wisdom and to even hold time itself into his**

**own being. Using his staff, he watches over the**

**Ghost Zone and the Real World to keep balance and order.**

_That's it?_ I fumed, slamming the book shut. _The only new information is what he looks like! Wait! It shows what he looks like! That's it! All I need to do is–_

"Uh, boss?" Came a voice inches away from my right ear.

"What!" I yelled at him._ How dare he interrupt my planning!_

"What do you got there?" He asked.

"A club sandwich." I replied snarkily. I wasn't in the mood to deal with him at the moment.

"But, I thought that was a book?" replied a confused robot.

"Of course it's a book, you fool!" I yelled. "Besides, I don't pay you to think, I pay you to act!"

"Right," he said nervously, and his posture stiffened noticably. "Of course, sir."

"Speaking of acting." I said thoughtfully, "There's something I need you to do…"

***DF/P***

_What are they up to?_ I asked myself once again as I tried and failed to focus on my history paper. It has been a month since I almost let slip that I knew Clockwork, and so far, nothing. Not one single question or speculation from any of the three. Well any of the two that is. You'd think that Skulker would be asking me a million questions a minute about Clockwork. But I haven't seen hide or hair of the robotic ghost since that night. While the absence of the hunter would normally be a welcome break, but now, all it brung was suspicion and agitation.

_Where did he go? Why is he staying away? What is he planning?_

Before I could think more on the matter, I was drawn out by Writer.

"I think that's enough for one day." he said as he collected his materials. "You seem far more distracted then usual."

"I'm fine." I replied. After years of fighting ghost, that response became automatic. Especially because of _them._ I sneered. Before I could go down that trail of thought, I forced myself to focused on Writer.

He gave me a 'If-you-say-so' look before he spoke again.

"As you may recall, I am nearly done with my latest book, so I'll most likely be gone for the rest of the day." he said to me, before his features were overcome with a smirk. "Try not to destroy this one, will you?"

"I'll try to restrain myself if I ever see it." I snickered back. With a snort, Writer phased out of the room.

Over the last month, we have been working on getting along with each other. After much talking, arguing, and yelling, we have formed an odd bond. While we weren't great friends like I was with… those people, we definitely didn't hate each other. It was almost like a sibling-relation, but not quite. We got along great some times, while other times we couldn't agree on anything. But there wasn't any loyalty one shared with family. _At least he isn't trying to kill me anymore._

Glancing at the clock, I saw it was 2 O'clock exactly. I had the rest of the day off! _Although, I definitely need to go to the Simulator room and train my ghost powers. I really need to work out this tension._

As I was putting my papers away, I felt a presence appear. Spinning around, I came face to face with none other then Clockwork himself in his old man form. Although, there was something different about him. I'm not sure what it is, I just know that it's there.

"Clockwork," I stated. "What are you doing here?"

"Danny Phantom," He said ceremoniously. "I come bearing grievous news"

I stared at him in bewilderment. He called me Danny Phantom, He never calls me that. In fact, he rarely addresses at all, and when he needs to, it is always Daniel. His whole behavior is off, When we talk, he always treats me as a normal person. Not only that, but there was something off about his voice, it was almost nasally. Something wasn't right. However, his next words threw any of those thoughts out of my head.

"A great evil approaches." he spoke sorrowfully. "The greatest threat to ghost and man-kind has been freed."

There was silence for a moment before,

"WHAT!" I screeched. "How could you let this happen! You promised that he'd never get out! Your the Master of Time! You'd know if he was going to try and get out! Why would you…. Why–"

"Calm down, Danny Phantom." he said to me slowly, his old face staring at me in surprise. I gave him a questioning glance before I shook my head to focus on the bigger problem. I couldn't worry about his odd behavior now, people's lives were in danger!

"Calm down?! My evil future alternative self is out there killing people and destroying ghost and you want me to calm down! I barely beat him last time, and that was only because I surprised him with the wail!" I yelled while I pacing back and forth. "We need to warn everyone! We need to prepare and we need to… We need to…"

I had caught sight of the clock on the wall in mid turn. It was 2:04 and the smallest hand was still moving. I place my hand on my chest were his medallion usually hung. It wasn't there. I glanced back at Clockwork, who was staring at me in almost confusion. _Now that I think about it, he has been in his old man form since he got here and hasn't changed. He is acting weird and his voice is funny. Also he has a clock in his chest, the real Clockwork has a pendulum. I'm such an idiot! That's not Clockwork!_

Without wasting a second, I changed into my ghost form and flung an ecto-beam at him. It hit him in the center of the clock on his chest, causing him to be flung into the wall behind him and crumple into the floor. Getting up shakingly, the impostor said, "Danny Phantom, what are you doing? I am Clockwork, Master of–"

"Save it, Impostor!" I cut him off, firing another ecto-beam causing him to shift into a familiar faceless ghost in a fancy-looking overcoat and a fedora hat.

"Amorpho?" I asked in slight surprise, before I stormed over to him and grabbed the front of his coat, surprisingly, his feet were inches off the ground. _ Wow, I'm around the same hight as Amorpho now… Focus!_

"How– how did you know?" he asked fearfully.

"Clockwork freezes time when he comes to visit." I answer before I glared at him and began my questioning.

"Why are you pretending to be Clockwork? How did you know what he looks like, well, sorta looks like?"

"Well, um, you see…" he trailed off. I tightened my grip on his coat. In the reflection of his glasses I could see that my neon green eyes flashed red for a second before turning back. _I got to control myself!_ Ever since _That_ incident, my eyes flashed red when I was extremely angry. When I asked Clockwork about it, he told me it is normal for me and has nothing to do with Dan. Before I could think on it more, a voice came from behind me.

"So you truly know the Time Ghost." which belonged to Skulker.

"No!" I yelled as I shoved the shifting ghost from my grasp and spun around to face the newcomer, or should I say newcomers as Vlad and Writer were with him as well. "No, of course I don't."

"You seem to know him." commented Writer, gazing at me with an analytical eye.

"No, that's just what I– er, I assumed he looked like." I said quickly, hoping they buy it.

"Right, just like you _assumed_ you knew exactly what he was talking about." Vlad replied sarcastically. "Just like you _assumed_ he made a promise to you."

"I– well, I just…" I stammered, _ How do I get out of this?_

"Admit it, Daniel," Vlad said triumphantly, "You know the Master of Time!"

"Um, well…" I muttered desperately. _There's isn't anyway to convince them otherwise._

With sighed of defeat, I nodded. Then I remembered what he had said before.

"Hold on, how did you know Clockwork made a promise to me?" I asked. "As a matter of fact, how did you know that Amorpho was going to impersonate him?"

"How do you think?" Vlad responded smugly.

"You knew!" I accused them.

"Of course I knew." Vlad said, "I hired him to put on that little performance."

"I should of known." I muttered to myself before I spoke to the rest. "Why? What's the point of all this?"

"We knew that this was the only way to find out." Vlad said with a shrug.

"You could have asked me." I nearly yelled.

"Would you have answered?" Vlad countered.

"I don't know, maybe." I replied. "Still, you could have at least asked before you did all this!"

I wasn't going to admit it, but I was hurt that Vlad didn't trust me enough to ask and he thought the only way to get info was by pulling this off.

"Besides," I continued, "I have my reasons for not telling."

"Ah yes, this future evil alternative version of you." Vlad said before raising an eyebrow at me. "Care to explain?"

My whole demeanor changed instantly and I shot him an icy glare. Yes, _that_ was definitely a reason.

"That, is none of your business." I coldly replied, before I shot into the air. I was just about to phase throw the ceiling when a large hand wrapped around my ankle. I looked down to see Skulker with almost a look of desperation.

"What is he like Ghost Child?" he asked.

After a few seconds of struggling, I lowered myself to the ground with a sigh. _Might as well say something._

"Um… well." I stammered. "What I mean to say is…"

I rubbed my eyes in frustration before I turned to the ceiling. "A little help would be nice."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the three ghost and one half ghost staring at me in confusion. However, before anything else could be said, I felt familiar weight settle on my shoulders and all motion and noise stopped. I turned to see the real Clockwork right next to me.

"Hey Clockwork," I said in relief. "And sorry about that. I tried to make sure they didn't know."

"Everything is the way it's supposed to be." he replied with a reassuring smile.

"What do you mean?" I asked him. For some reason, whenever I am around him, I feel at ease, like I _know_ everything will be alright. I'm not sure why that is.

"This way, you could destroy the gauntlets without trying to find an excuse to tell Vladimir. You also have four more beings to help keep that future from happening. You won't have a secret hanging between you and Vladimir." he listed before continuing with a smirk. "And finally, the five of you can work on dispelling the rumors about me."

I couldn't help but laugh at the last one. "Tower getting a little cramped?"

"A little." he answered. "You know, five-hundred years ago, I was able to travel around the Ghost Zone like any other ghost. But then jealous ghost told tales about me to the younger ghost. It got to a point where I found it was better to just stay in my tower."

"What changed?" I asked curiously. Wondering what could have caused such a change in the Time-Ghost.

"You." he answered simply.

"Huh?" I asked in confusion. _What could _I _have done?_

"Before I met you," he started. "The only ones I have spoken to was the two Observants that came, and that was when they needed something done."

_To think, only being able to talk to two people for FIVE-HUNDRED YEARS_ I thought to myself._ It's a wonder he didn't go crazy!_

"Now," He continued. "I can open my tower up to more people."

"So," I said jokingly. "you're saying that I'm not good enough?"

"You have a life to live." he replied. Giving me a fond smile, which made me slightly embarrassed.

"We probably should…" I trailed off while gesturing to the frozen ghost and half-ghost.

"Of course." he said while handing me two medallions to bring to Vlad and the Writer who was still by the entrance. I nodded and walked over to them. Taking a deep breath to prepare myself, I slip the straps around the Ghost Writer then quickly did the same to Vlad.

"What are yo–" Vlad started to say before he noticed that I wasn't where I was before. "Daniel? How'd you get over here?"

Without saying a word, I gestured towards the Ghost of Time. Who was now attempting to wave off the admiration he was receiving from our tinny companion in the metal suit.

I have to admit, it was hilarious seeing Skulker bowing on his knees at an embarrassed Clockwork in his child form. But, I _did_ try not to laugh. For five seconds anyway. But the sight had me rolling on the ground, and the dumbstruck looks from Vlad and the Writer didn't help at all.

"WHELP!" screeched Skulker. His flames growing out from his head.

"It's fine." spoke the time ghost.

"So." started Vlad in an unconvinced tone.. "You are Clockwork?"

"Yes." the now adult looking time ghost said. " I am, Vladimir."

Vlad had just opened his mouth when Clockwork cut him off.

"Prove it?" he said, "Very well. November 8, 1987, You were in a parking garage during the evening, you were talking with a one Emily Peterson. Need I go on?"

"Uh." Vlad said while pink laced his cheeks. "No, that's alright."

"What happened?" I could help but ask. At Clockwork's raised eyebrow, I continued. "And that's none of my business. Never mind."

"Then are the rumors true?" asked the novelist. "Can you really do all of that?"

"Not everything." replied the time ghost, "While I do control time, I don't control everyone's fate. I only intervene when necessary."

"You don't?" asked a crestfallen Skulker. "But they said…"

"Those are merely rumors." Clockwork replied.

"So how do you know Daniel?" inquired Vlad. I had to repress a flinch.

"Back when Daniel was fourteen…" Clockwork began the tail.

At the end, I was staring at my feet, unable to look any of the others in the eye.

"And I'll be taking these with me." Clockwork said, holding up a stack of papers and a pair of metal gloves. At the sight of the gloves, I quickly back up, ignoring the gazes of the other ghost and half ghost in the room.

"Now," Clockwork continued to address Vlad and I, "take the next week or so off of your studies and let things settle down. I hear that Alaska has beautiful weather this time of year."

And with that parting words, there was a flash of light and life continued on.

* * *

**AN: Finally! I didn't think I'd ever finish that fic.**

**I know that the ending is all that great but, it's the best I could come up with at the moment.**

**Now I can go back to work TGtS. It took forever to come back to the Fandom that is Danny Phantom.**

**Sorry. Not edited, so there is most likely a few mistakes.**

**Now! Off to work on the next chapter of TGtS!**

**Until next time,**

**4-19-13**

**~Ulimo~**


End file.
